why would they discontinue a console that is going to be profitable within a year? so no i dont think so.

Hmmm, only if they think the future of the company will be better if they stop selling console hardware... So either their situation gets very bad or they find a better alternative like say they believe a partnership with Microsoft or another company is better than doing it alone.

God I hope not! Just for the sake of competition. If the 360 is any good is just because they were competing against Sony...

Please stop trying to get this locked and yourself banned.

Who qualifies as a "Sony hater" here?

I hope not. The majority of games I consider to be truly brilliant this generation have been on HD consoles.

Sure the Xbox 360's customer base would increase if the PS3 died, but not by enough to cover the difference.

People say that tonnes of titles would come over the the Xbox 360 if this happened, but I think the ones that are close to completion on the PS3 would still release (to rather dismal sales), and the rest would just die.

@OP:
After spending billions and just as PS3 stopped losing money on HW in EU and is going to stop losing elsewhere too, with a games library grown to a decent size and still growing, it would be pure folly.
Sony must now simply content itself of third place, or, if very able from now on, ending this gen second WW and third in USA, but making this third os even second place as healthy and wealthy as possible. And next time, but they should have known it since Netscape failure, NEVER provoke MS before having already attacked and heavily hit it, giving it time to prepare a reaction.

Yes, because every console is discontinued at some point. But if you mean in the very near future then no. However, the ten year plan will never transpire.

Nothing is going to happen to the playstation brand, don't get too worked up over rumors.

This is unrealistically optimistic.